MANSFIELD, Conn. – It was quality over quantity for the Eastern Connecticut State University field hockey team Wednesday afternoon at Rick McCarthy Field, when the Warriors saved their only home victory for the exact right time.
 
In a game with direct Little East Conference ramifications, Eastern (3-12-1, 1-4 LEC) ended a seven-match winless (0-6-1) streak at home and an overall nine-game losing streak by posting its first shutout of the season, 2-0, over Western Connecticut State University.
 
In the process, Eastern's LEC post-season hopes remained alive as it pulled into a three-way tie for fifth place with WestConn (5-11, 1-4 LEC) and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (3-13, 1-4 LEC).
 
Since winning four of its first six matches, WestConn has lost nine of its last ten.
 
The top six finishers in the seven-team conference qualify for the LEC playoffs, which get underway Tuesday with first-round games.
 
Eastern, Western and UMass Dartmouth all play higher-ranked teams in the standings Saturday, with two of the three qualifying for the final two spots. Saturday, Eastern visits Plymouth State University, WestConn travel to LEC unbeaten University of Southern Maine and UMass Dartmouth hosts VTSU Castleton.
 
All three teams tied for fifth place have gone 1-1 against each other.
 
In winning for the third straight year against WestConn, Eastern rode senior Jakhelin Cota's (Norwalk) second goal of the year – first since Sept. 9 – midway through the second quarter before
 first-year player Grace Barlage (Guilford) put the game away with her team-leading fifth goal of the year – first in nine games – with 4:40 left.
 

Junior forward Liz LaMarco (West Hartford) played a big role in Eastern's first goal. She won the ball near midfield off a WestConn re-start and fired it ahead to Barlage down the left flank. Barlage carried a long distance before sending the ball into the circle to LaMarco, whose shot was saved by WestConn goalie Kayla Hnasko, but rolled to sophomore forward Emma Sanson (Thomaston) at the left of the cage. Sanson turned at the end line and sent a pass through the front of the goal past two WestConn defenders toward the right post, where Cota touched it beyond the dive of Hnasko and inside the right post.
 
Barlage, who took eight of Eastern's 19 shots – putting six of them on net – was finally rewarded with just under five minutes left when she connected on a high drive from the top of circle past Hnasko following a penalty corner from sophomore defender Angelina Falleni (Byram, NJ).
 
Prior to her goal, Barlage was robbed by Hnasko (12 saves) on several occasions, must notably in the final minute of the first half when the goalie knocked the ball out of the air with her stick on Barlage's bid from close range. Two minutes into the second half, Barlage fired a shot into the pads of Hnasko off a pass from LaMarco, and a minute later had two chances to score, but Hnasko foiled her bid on a breakaway -- saving the shot while on the ground -- before Barlage sent the rebound wide. Hnasko knocked down another high shot by Barlage four minutes before Barlage made it 2-0.
 
Sophomore goalie Hannah Jalowiec (Cheshire) ended a personal six-game losing streak with her second win of the year -- first at home and first since a 5-2 win at Nichols College Sept. 19.
 
Jalowiec made three saves and benefitted from the aggressive play of starting defenders Falleni, senior Leah Kowalasky (Middlebury), junior Morgan Anjos (Westfield, MA) and sophomore Emma Stearns (Medway, MA), who limited the Wolves to six shots – three through the first three periods.
 
The victory came in the final home games in the careers of Cota, Kowalasky and Kaylee Drobish (Wallingford).